Prayer and God's Mind

The idea is that when we pray, it's not about changing God's mind. Our prayers don't persuade God to think differently. Instead, praying for the dead is a way for us to join in God's plan for the world.

God's Unchanging Mind

God's mind is like the foundation of everything. It's not about changing His mind but aligning ourselves with His plan. If we pray for something good, God already knows. He's like the best parent, knowing what we need before we even ask.

Why Pray Then?

St. Thomas Aquinas suggests that prayer allows us to work alongside God in making good things happen. It's not about asking for something and then God doing it; it's about God causing the good thing and our prayers being part of that process.

Praying for the Dead
Now, why pray for the dead? We don't pray to change God's mind about them; God cares for the dead more than we do. We don't know exactly how our prayers help them, but it might bring them comfort and assurance wherever they are.

Unity in Prayer 
Praying for the dead also brings us closer together as the body of Christ. It's like we're all in this big story of God redeeming everything, and by praying for the dead, we're showing that we're in it together.

The Church's Wisdom 
The Church has always taught that praying for the dead is good. It's a way for us to participate in what God is always doing, bringing healing to every part of our lives.

Conclusion 
So, when you pray for the dead, you're not trying to change God's mind. Instead, you're joining in with God's plan, showing love and care for those who have passed away, and being part of the larger story of God's redemption. Keep praying, and remember that it's a way of participating in the good work God is already doing.

Prayer does not change God’s mind

• All Catholic teaching and practice around prayer presumes that our prayers do not change God’s mind. There are very good reasons to pray, but changing God’s mind about anything is not one of them. (Here’s one article that makes this point.)
   
• The Church has always prayed for the dead. It’s good to pray for the dead. We don’t do this to change God’s mind about the dead, or what they need, or to goad God into being better than God already is. We have the privilege of sharing in God’s gracious redemption of the world by opening ourselves to his grace in prayer.
   
• God does not change his mind. There's nothing outside of God's mind to change. God always already grasps the whole course of cosmic history, from beginning to end. He's still at the beginning, here with us right now, and already there at the end. God causes the cosmos to exist as a kind of reflection of God,but God himself is just God being God.
   
• God’s mind is the very ground of our existence, the pattern according to which we pray. If what we pray for is good for us, God already knows. If we have any knowledge whatsoever of what would be good to pray for, the source of that knowledge is God himself.
   
• As the best of all possible parents (our Father), God does not need us to ask for good things before he plans to give them to us. If you saw that your child needed something vital, something truly important that you could give them (medicine if they were sick, assurance if they were in despair, food if they were starving to death), would you wait before they asked you to take care of them? God is better parent than we are. And God wants good things for us more than we want them. (See the catechism paragraph 221).
   
• The point is that God is the infinite and creative source of everything that exists, from moment to moment. We won’t outdo God in generosity, or considerateness, or love. God’s always ahead of us, and behind us, and closer than we are to ourselves.
   

It’s good to pray for things

• So why is it good to pray? According to St. Thomas Aquinas, prayer allows us to participate in God’s gracious governance of the world, which is a really great thing to be able to do. It makes for a fuller and richer and more satisfying world if we get to be coworkers, alongside God, in causing good things to happen. So it’s not that we ask for something good, and then God does the good thing. Instead, says Aquinas, God causes the good thing and our prayers for the good thing. (Here’s a good resource on this: https://pintswithaquinas.com/whats-the-point-in-praying-if-you-cant-change-gods-mind/)
   
• To look at it a different way, Jesus is already praying all the possible prayers we could pray, with more fervor and love than we will ever have. The catechism says this: “Jesus also prays for us - in our place and on our behalf. All our petitions were gathered up, once for all, in his cry on the Cross and, in his Resurrection, heard by the Father. This is why he never ceases to intercede for us with the Father.” So it’s good to pray because when we pray, we’re coming closer to Jesus; we’re imitating him, joining in his prayer, and that’s good for us. But we don’t need to change his mind.
   

We should pray for the dead

• It’s good to pray for the dead. We don’t do this to change God’s mind about the dead, or what they need, or to goad God into being better than God already is. God cares about the dead more than we do. God is the reason they continue in existence.
   
• How do our prayers for the dead help them? We don’t know. Matters involving what happens after we die are unclear. We have lots of theories, lots of testimonies from the Scripture and from saints (none perfectly consistent). What the Church has continuously taught is that it’s good to pray for the dead.
   
• Perhaps it’s good to pray for the dead because they hear us, and our prayers assure them that they’re not alone, wherever it is that the dead people go. When we know that we’re not alone, it’s easier to have hope. It’s easier to trust in God’s healing.
   
• Perhaps it’s good to pray for the dead because it makes us closer to becoming the one body of Christ. In some sense, all the saints will be saved together. None of us is an individual soul, doing it all on our own. So by praying for the dead, we’re casting our lot with them, seeing our stories as being one big story, the one big story of God redeeming the cosmos.
   
• The catechism says this: "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins' she offers her suffrages for them." Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.” (958)
   
• Remember: our prayers are a way of participating in what God is always already doing. Praying for the dead is one way of joining in God’s work of bringing healing to every aspect of our lives, both in this life and in that strange shadow world between here and the resurrected Heaven and Earth. So keep praying for the dead. Keep offering petitions and Masses for them. We don’t know exactly how it works (just like we don’t know exactly how our prayers for one another work.) We just know that praying for others makes us into the one body, united in the one Spirit, that we ask to become at every Eucharist.